Irish headquartered medical device maker Medtronic expects to ramp up production by nearly five-fold to more than 1,000 ventilators per week by June-end, and makeover 25,000 devices available over the next six months.
The firm is currently shipping 300 ventilator a week to customers and hopes to be making 400 a week by the end of April, with 700 being completed every seven days by the end of May.
It said it was currently testing a new feature for its PB980 ventilator with two U.S. hospitals that would allow clinicians to adjust settings remotely, reducing physicians' exposure to patients suffering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The company also said it has won the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval to immediately market its ventilator, which it plans to launch by May, to meet increased demand due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The ventilator, PB560, is currently sold in 35 countries at an average selling price of under $10,000, the company said.
As U.S. demand for ventilators skyrockets due to the fast-spreading pandemic, the government is pushing makers to boost their production capacities and has mandated carmakers to use their facilities to produce the device.